1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to displaying information to viewers regarding the number of other viewers who are watching specified television programs. More specifically, the present invention relates to using a back channel to gather statistics relating to real time viewing behavior and using the gathered information to modify electronic program guides (EPGs) so as to inform viewers of the number of other viewers who are watching the television programs.
2. Background and Related Art
Historically, television has been a source of entertainment for the general public and a medium through which an enormous number of individuals can be reached. During recent years, cable television systems and digital satellite broadcast systems have greatly increased the number of television channels that are available to viewers. Selecting from among tens or even hundreds of television programs can be daunting. Viewers typically attempt to find interesting programs by flipping through channels. Unfortunately, this practice is time consuming and often annoys other viewers who happen to be watching the same television. There is therefore a need for a means of more quickly locating programs of interest.
Television directories have been developed to simplify the process of determining which television programs are being broadcast. Such television directories are published in weekly printed guides or, more recently, using electronic program guides displayed to viewers on the television screen. Electronic program guides enable viewers to conveniently find programs that may be of interest and to manage the functionality of the television system by, for example, tuning to or recording the desired program.
Although television directories are a useful resource for television viewers, conventional electronic program guides and other directories are limited due to the fact that viewers using electronic program guides have been isolated from the rest of the viewing public. For example, as a viewer scrolls through the listings of an electronic program guide, the viewer has no reliable way of knowing which programs will turn out to have been extremely popular or to have been viewed by the friends or acquaintances of the viewer. In hindsight, viewers often wish they could have viewed programs that were particularly interesting. For example, a viewer might feel excluded when friends or coworkers are excitedly discussing a program the viewer missed the night before. Such a viewer would benefit from a system that would alert him or her to programs that relatively large numbers of other viewers are watching.
One of the reasons for which electronic program guides have typically operated in isolation from the rest of the viewing public is that the technology that has been conventionally used to gather viewing statistics does not operate in real time. In one current method of gathering such statistics, members of the viewing public are paid by businesses to record in logbooks the television channels they watch during a sample period of time and then mail the logbooks to a central location after the completion of the sample period. More recently, this basic technique has been enhanced with systems that electronically record viewing behavior. In either case, however, the process of gathering and processing this viewing data introduces latency on the order of hours or days. This method is useful for gathering historical data associated with viewing behavior, but is clearly not useful for informing real time viewing decisions.